His Brother's Keeper Part 1
by CrystalNephtyse
Summary: When Peter get's a mysterious illness it is up to Nathan to figure it all out
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Nathan **

Nathan was once again in the middle of a very important senate meeting when his telephone started blaring off. He stared down at his phone to see who was calling. Sure enough it said in clear bold white letters that it was from Peter. Nathan sighed in exasperation. He figured that his brother was probably in trouble once again, and that he was once again going to need Nathan to save his ass. That had been the case quite a lot with Peter, especially ever since he had gotten his powers. "I'm very sorry" Nathan apologized to the other senators, "I'm going to have to take this call." "Please take it outside than" One of the other senators suggested, "Than hurry back. We really need you." Nathan did as he was told. "Peter?" He asked as he got on the phone. "Nathan!" Peter said his voice sounded panicked and out of breath. "Peter?" Nathan repeated "You sound kind of weird"

"I need you!" Peter moaned heavily into the phone. "There's something seriously wrong" "Where are you?" Nathan asked. With Peter it was never clear where he was going to end up, as far as Nathan was concerned he may have very well been somewhere on the other side of the country. He held his breath hoping that was not the case.

"I'm at my apartment." Peter told him. "I need you to come over right away!" Nathan grinded down on his teeth, trying to hide his annoyance. "I'll come over at the end of my meeting" He said tightly. "You don't understand" Peter cried. "I NEED you" Nathan could hear him sobbing on the other line. He continued to grind down on his teeth. Peter could be such a handful. "I'll be right over than" Nathan said. "Please promise me you won't go anywhere, none of that flying out of the window or turning invisible crap you got that?" He didn't even give Peter a chance to respond "All right than bye" He said hastily than hung up.

As soon as he got off the phone Nathan returned to the conference room and began collecting his stuff. "And just where do you think you're going?" One of the female politicians asked "I'm sorry" Nathan apologized hastily. "I know its short notice and everything but I just got off the phone with my brother, I think he might be in serious trouble. I mean he sounded really weird on the phone just now." "Oh my god!" Exclaimed one of the other senators. "I hope he's all right" Nathan wasn't quite sure why this senator who hardly knew the first thing about him cared, but he supposed it was nice of him to show his concern. He nodded slowly at him "I'm sure my brother's going to be just fine." He said, he then began gathering his things. He apologized a second time for having to leave so soon.

There had been many times when Nathan wished he had been an only child. And this very moment was no exception. He had often times wondered who invented the genius concept of younger brothers and why he had to be unfortunate enough to have one. There were a couple of times when he almost felt like he hated Peter. Fortunately this wasn't one of those times. But he did think that his life would have been a lot easier if Peter wasn't always getting in the way of everything. He already had enough responsibilities with being a senator and with being a super hero. On top of that he also had a family to attend to. He hated the fact that Peter himself had to be yet another one of his big responsibilities.

He knocked on Peter's door. There was no answer. "Peter it's me!" Nathan said "Come get the door." Still no answer. If Peter needed him so much he could have at least answered the door. Nathan tried ringing the door bell. Still no answer. Nathan sighed heavily. Thankfully he had a key to his brother's house. He let himself in. Peter was sitting listlessly on the couch and was holding his hands to his head.

"What's wrong Peter?" Nathan asked instantly. Peter stared up at his brother his eyes were wet and red. "I have such a bad headache" he moaned. "That's why you called me here?" Nathan snapped, "You called me out of a very important meeting because you have a headache? Did it ever occur to you to take an aspirin?" This was very unlike Peter, Nathan thought to himself, he could be a lot of things, but selfish was not one of them. At least not usually. Peter continued staring at his brother. "Please don't be mad" He said.

"And why exactly shouldn't I be mad?" Nathan asked. Peter wrung his hands furiously as he tried to explain. "I didn't call you just because I have a headache."

"Oh?" Nathan asked. "That's not why you called?" He stared at Peter quizzingly "It's about my powers." Peter explained.

"Your powers?" Nathan repeated. Peter stared at him and nodded his head. "They're gone" He said sullenly. Nathan cleared his throat. "I'm sure they're not gone Peter" He said, placing his hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'm sure you just over used them or something, you're probably just tired out, you've probably once again tried to accomplish something that was way bigger than you. So what was it you were trying to accomplish this time?" Nathan was not exactly able to hide the exasperation in his voice.

"It's not like that" Peter cried "I haven't done anything to waste my powers. At least not recently I haven't" Nathan shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know what to tell you then" He said. "Look" He continued, "I'm sure this is not a big deal. I'm sure they'll be back in full swing by tomorrow." Nathan began heading for the door. "Please stay" Peter sobbed. "I need you!" His voice sounded just as strange as it had sounded on the phone. Nathan tried not to think anything of it.

"Look" He said, trying hard to keep himself contained "I know this might strike you as a bit surprising, but I HAVE a life. I have my job, I have my power, I have my family, I can't just put it all on hold because of you."

Peter stared up at Nathan. His eyes continued tearing up. Suddenly out of nowhere he began coughing uncontrollably. "Do you need a glass of water?" Nathan asked sounding annoyed though he wasn't sure what he was annoyed with. Peter nodded his head and continued coughing. It sounded awful almost as if he were coughing up his entire lung. Almost as if he were dying. Nathan could not bring himself to think such a horrible thought. He probably just had a bug, he assured himself as he turned on the faucet, and let the cold water flow into the glass.

"Here drink this" Nathan ordered as he thrust the glass into Peter's hands. Peter shivered a little bit as he grabbed onto the glass of water. He continued coughing as he held the glass to his lips. "Go on drink!" Nathan ordered. Peter took one gulp and began coughing even harder. Nathan pounded him hard across the back. Peter finally stopped coughing and began spitting up water. "You okay?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah I'm okay" Peter said. Wiping off his mouth.

"Well obviously not" Nathan said. He continued staring at his brother. He hadn't realized it before, but Peter appeared to be in a whole lot of pain. He wanted to take back everything condescending he had said about having a life. When he thought about it long and hard, he realized that while he had a whole lot going for him, Peter did not. He didn't have a job, or a wife and kids, and at this point he didn't even have his powers. And at this point he certainly didn't have his health either. Nathan sighed heavily as the uneasy feeling seeped through him. Peter really was suffering and it really scared Nathan because he couldn't for the life of him figure out what he was suffering from or what he was supposed to do about it. The two of them sat in silence for a really long time. Nathan continued staring at Peter. He appeared so vulnerable, hunched over with his head buried in his hands. He was almost so skinny that Nathan could see his rib cage. Had Peter always been that skinny? Nathan wondered in panic. Peter had always eaten like a bird and had always eaten very slowly. When they were kids, Nathan remembered that their mother was always trying to fatten him up and get him to eat more and to eat faster. As he continued staring at Peter, Nathan decided that his mother was right. At that point he decided, fattening him up did not seem like such a terrible idea. In fact at that point Nathan longed to literally pour Fettuccini Alfredo and all other kinds of their mother's most fattening Italian cuisine down his throat. Anything to get some meat on his miserable rib cage. The thought of their mother's cooking was making his mouth water. There was no way Nathan decided that Peter was going to be able to keep any of that food down. He had enough trouble finishing his glass of water. With every swallow he seemed to flinch with intense pain. Nathan put his hand on his brother's knee and gave it a gentle squeeze. Even that caused Peter to cringe in intense pain "You're in a lot of pain aren't you Peter" Nathan asked as if he were just figuring that out. As if it hadn't been something he was thinking about the entire time. Peter stared at him with his wet eyes.

"Usually I can heal myself" He cried, "When I'm in this much pain I mean." He continued staring at Nathan his eyes were wide. "Surprisingly here's the thing" He said, "It's not really the pain so much that's been bothering me." He swallowed hard. "I'm pretty much used to that by now, I mean it is a problem and everything." He fell silent yet again. "But it's not THE problem" He finally said. His voice sounded strangely flat.

"What is THE problem than?" Nathan asked. He couldn't help sounding a bit exasperated. Peter always had a way of wearing people down. He was actually very good at it. Peter let out a shaky sigh. "It's like this weird weakness I've been having" He explained. "What kind of weakness Peter?" Nathan asked. Once again his brother was being very vague. "I can't really explain it very well" Peter said helplessly. "I'm just weak, and I don't mean weak as in powerless I mean weak as in weak." Nathan sighed heavily. It was no mystery at that point that Peter was weak. It was in fact almost as obvious as it was that he was in pain. In fact since Nathan had been there he hadn't even moved from his slumped position. He was obviously too weak to move.

"Do you care be more specific?" Nathan asked he once again sounded exasperated. Peter continued staring at him confusedly. Nathan cleared his throat. "I mean the word weak is very broad. Weak ankles? Weak stomach? Be more specific." "Weak everything" Peter said staring up at Nathan. He then attempted to get up from the couch but collapsed to the ground immediately. "Peter!" Nathan said rushing to his brother's side "Can you get up?" "No!" Peter moaned, "No I can't"

"Are you like physically incapable of getting up or something?" Nathan asked. "Yes!" Peter said "Exactly! I'm physically incapable." Nathan rolled his eyes as he grabbed on to Peter's arm and pulled him up from the ground. He then put both hands onto his shoulders and stared meaningfully into his eyes. Not surprisingly Peter was very light, his entire body was trembling uncontrollably. "Do you want to explain what happened?" Nathan asked. Peter managed to sit himself down on the couch. His body continued trembling. "I can't" Peter moaned. "Please try" Nathan ordered. Peter wrung his hands furiously. "Well it's kind of like this" He started. "When I worked at the nursing home, I had a lot of patients who were given these medications for muscle spasms. They were apparently supposed to help release the tension and relax their muscles. Muscle relaxants I guess. Anyway the side effects were always really bad. A few of the patients actually over dosed on the drugs and it pretty much caused them to completely lose their muscle tone." He bit down on his lip. "I've never taken muscle relaxant drugs, so I wouldn't know exactly what it feels like, but I can now totally imagine what it's like. It's really scaring me." His breathing was becoming faster by the second "It's really weird," He continued "because I have no idea when or where I'm going to have an attack. Or how long it's going to last" Nathan nodded his head slowly. "So you pretty much feel like you've gone and overdosed on a bunch of muscle relaxants. Okay I suppose I get it."

"I didn't overdose on anything!" Peter cried. "I didn't say you did" Nathan said rolling his eyes. "I'm only trying to get a better understanding of what's going on with you." Peter appeared to be a tiny bit embarrassed by his defensiveness. "Right!" He said. He sighed heavily, "Well yes" He said, "That's pretty much exactly what its like." Nathan once again fell silent for a really long time. "How long has this been going on?" He finally asked. "How long have you been feeling like this?" "I don't really remember when it started, I think like some time earlier this week maybe. I didn't really think much of it at the time. The attacks were a lot less frequent." He than fell silent for a really long time. "Than it got to the point where they got so bad, that I really wanted to heal myself." He breathed heavily. "But I couldn't, because my powers were and still are officially gone." Nathan hugged Peter close to him. Once again both of them were at a loss for words. "To be honest with you Peter" Nathan finally said, "I'm not sure why you called me about all this. Very interesting decision I have to admit. Interesting choice. What could I possibly do about this? I can fly that's pretty much it. I sure the hell don't have healing powers." Nathan usually felt like he had things under control. He felt that he could always have his brother's back. But this time it seemed like his problem was way out of his reach.

"I don't know" Peter said. "I guess I was just scared, and I needed someone really bad, and you were the first person I thought of. I didn't want to be alone."

"Don't worry" Nathan assured him. "I know it won't help too much, but if you need me to stay here, I'm not going anywhere."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Peter**

"Nathan look" Peter said. "You don't have to stay here, I know that you have a life and a family and a job and your power. I want you to get back to that. I don't want to be a burden." "Peter look" Nathan said, his voice was filled with exasperation. "Just shut up okay?" Peter flinched. He had been completely taken aback by Nathan's rudeness. "I'm sorry" Nathan apologized "I didn't mean for it to come out sounding so rude. You are seriously in no condition to stay here all alone by yourself. You're obviously falling apart here physically, emotionally and mentally. And you obviously need me here, isn't that kind of why you called me?" Peter stared at him helplessly. "Yeah I suppose." He said. Suddenly his phone began going off. "You might want to answer that" Nathan said. Peter couldn't think of who could possibly be calling him. He than looked at his phone and saw that Niki's name was written in bold white letters.

"Hello" Peter said reluctantly "Hey honey!" Niki said. "You didn't forget about our date did you?" Peter bit down hard on his lip. It had actually completely slipped his mind that he had a date with Niki. It had in fact seemed like years ago when he last saw Niki even though it had only been a week ago. A week ago. Peter thought sullenly to himself. A week ago when everything was nice and normal, back when he had his powers. Peter tried to think long and hard. He tried to remember when exactly the weird turn of events started to take place, when his powers little by little started disappearing, when the pain started, when the attacks of weakness started. His mind drew a blank. "Peter?" Niki asked. "Our date remember?" Peter suddenly snapped back into the present. He didn't realize that he had been crying. It completely shocked him when he felt the tears stream down his cheeks and when he heard himself let out a quiet sob. He couldn't possibly go on a date with Niki. Not in the condition he was in. The thought of even explaining to Niki why he couldn't show up made him feel like crying even harder. Before he knew it, he was sobbing like an idiot.

"Are you all right honey?" Niki asked. Peter wiped off his tears. "I can't make it" He sobbed. "Honey? What's going on?" Niki asked. Peter was unable to answer that because he was yet again interrupted by another sobbing fit. Nathan motioned for Peter to hand him the phone. "Peter's not feeling very well" He told Niki. Somehow it seemed like Nathan was downplaying the whole thing. He handed Peter the phone. "She wants to talk to you" He told him. "What's wrong?" Niki asked instantly. "Why aren't you feeling well?" Peter swallowed his tears. "I don't really know, but I really don't want to talk about it." He said. Peter thought about it for a while. He hadn't really forgotten about his upcoming date with Niki. He had actually repressed it because he dreaded it so much. As a matter of fact he had actually been thinking about Niki quite a lot ever since he first started experiencing his symptoms. He knew that eventually he was going to be unable to hide everything and that eventually he was going to have to talk about what was happening to him. He did not want Niki to have to worry about him. She already had a lot of problems of her own to deal with including her son Micah who had become a real handful ever since he lost his father. The last thing Peter wanted was to become yet another one of her problems. Niki was not making it easy at all. It didn't seem like she was ready to let it go.

"Peter seriously" She said. Her voice was filled with worry. "I know something really serious is going on with you, and I don't want to just ignore it." Peter groaned inwardly. "If you're not up for a date than that's just fine, I'll come over." "No please" Peter begged. "Really you don't have to" "I'm coming over!" Niki said stiffly. Nathan once again motioned for Peter to hand him the phone. Peter reluctantly handed it over. "Look Niki!" he said, "I seriously don't think it's a good idea. Peter's seriously not doing very well, he's in no mood for visitors right now." He than brought the phone into another room. Peter listened nervously to their conversation. He didn't hear the whole thing but he heard bits and pieces of it, enough to know what they were talking about "He's been over dosing on muscle relaxants or something." He heard Nathan say. Peter couldn't believe his ears. Nathan was getting everything all wrong. Peter continued to keep his ears open, but Nathan closed the door behind him so he couldn't hear any more. In what seemed like hours Nathan hung up and returned to the living room. "Niki says she's really sorry you're sick" He told Peter as he handed him his cell phone. "Unfortunately she still wants to come over."

"I can't believe you told her everything." Peter cried. He covered his face in his hands with embarrassment. "I can't believe you told her I was taking muscle relaxants. I am NOT. You know that." "And I can't believe you were eavesdropping" Nathan shot back. "I was talking to Niki we were having a private conversation, you weren't supposed to hear any of it." "It doesn't matter" Peter said sounding defeated. "I did hear it. Now she knows, she knows about everything. I can't believe you!" "Look" Nathan said, "She was really worried about you. When I told her she was very understanding. She really cares about you." Peter continued staring down at the ground. "She was going to have to find out eventually right? It's better that she knows about it in advanced isn't that right?" Nathan asked "I don't want her to come over" Peter moaned. "Could you please call her up and tell her not to come over?"

"Believe me" Nathan said, "I've tried telling her not to come, that's why I told her about your condition, but then she pretty much insisted on coming over. I don't think she's going to change her mind." Peter continued burying his face with his hands. "What time did she say she'd be over?" He asked. Just than the door bell rang. "I suppose that would be her" Nathan said. "Why don't you get the door?" Peter asked sullenly. Nathan did as he was told. "Hello Niki!" Peter heard him say. "Thanks for coming I suppose." He led Niki over to the couch where Peter still hadn't budged. Niki's eyes filled with tears.

"Peter!" She cried flinging her arms around him. "I had no idea your health was so bad." "Nathan told you everything?" Peter asked. He once again covered his face with his hands. Right than he really wished he could disappear. He really wished that he could use his invisibility power, but of course he couldn't because he didn't have his powers, if he had his powers he would have healed himself already, and wouldn't have to be in the situation he was in.

"Everything!" Niki said. "It all sounds so horrible." She began stroking her fingers through his hair. Peter backed away from her. "I'm fine" He said. "No!" Niki just about snapped, "No you're not. At least not according to Nathan. And Nathan says that he got all that information from you. So obviously you're not fine. You've been having attacks of weakness, you're in pain, you don't have your powers. Hell you've even resorted to taking drugs, what are they muscle relaxants?" Peter was becoming more indignant by the moment.

"Nathan told you that?" He cried even though he knew very well that Nathan told her that, it still exasperated him. He once again buried his face. "Well he's wrong!" He snapped. Immediately he felt bad that he chose to explain his weakness that way. He figured that Nathan was probably going to take it the wrong way, but for some reason he just wasn't thinking at that moment. "I don't know why I said anything about muscle relaxants" Peter admitted. "But I did not take any. I promise you I didn't. I was just trying to explain what the attacks were like. I couldn't think of any other way to describe them. I couldn't think of anything else to compare them to"

"Well how would you know what the drug affects are like?" Niki asked "If you've never taken the drugs?" "That's the thing" Peter said. "I don't know what it's like to be high on muscle relaxants. I've just seen the drug reactions during my career and believe me it was not pretty. I know they cause muscle weakness. And now I'm experiencing that. I almost wish I was taking those medications because at least then I'd know why I keep experiencing muscle weakness. And then I could do something about it without using my healing powers, which I don't have anymore." He took a deep breath. "I don't know why I'm having these attacks. All I know is that I hate having them. I hate being weak. I hate having to explain my weakness. Neither of you understand it at all. I really should have kept my mouth shut. And I'm really mad at myself for not." He once again got himself up from the couch, but once again the muscles in his legs knees and ankles gave out. Niki firmly grabbed onto his arm and stopped him from folding to the floor.

"Thanks Niki!" Peter said. He wiped the bead of sweat from his fore head. "You were about to have another one of your attacks weren't you?" Niki asked almost accusingly. She stared sharply at him making him feel increasingly uncomfortable. "No" He lied "Um it was a false alarm, I'm really okay, in fact both of you guys can just leave if you'd like." "No!" both of them shouted almost in unison "I can take care of myself; I don't need to be baby sat." Peter said trying to smile a tiny bit which of course was not easy to do, even the muscles in his face were starting to feel weak. He knew that nothing he was saying was true but he didn't think it would be fair for either Nathan or Niki to have to stay with him. Nathan had very condescendingly lectured him about how he had a life. As condescending as the lecture was, Nathan was right. Peter felt increasingly guilty when he thought about what a burden he was for his brother. On top of that he wasn't too enthusiastic about Nathan being there. In fact he was still kind of mad at him for telling Niki everything. If it hadn't been for him, and his stupid big mouth, Niki wouldn't have been there in the first place. Niki was a whole different story. Peter could not stress it enough that she had so many problems and that he was about to become one of them. For some reason that thought caused his body to become cold all over, or maybe it wasn't the thought that caused it, but for some reason he was suddenly freezing. He began to shudder. Before he knew it he was unable to stop.

"You cold Peter?" Nathan asked. "I suppose a little bit" Peter said absently. He continued shuddering. "Well that sounds like a huge understatement to me" Nathan commented. "Niki" He commanded "There are a couple bed comforters upstairs, go get Peter one of them before he freezes to death here." Niki did as she was told and rushed upstairs. "I'm okay" Peter said once again. "Really I'm fine" "Of course you're not" Nathan scoffed. He held Peter close to his body trying to get him to warm up. It did not work. Peter continued on with his uncontrollable shuddering. Niki came downstairs. "How's he doing?" She asked worriedly. She immediately wrapped the light blue down comforter around Peter. That didn't seem to work either. He was still freezing and was still unable to stop shuddering. Niki gave him a sympathetic stare. "You poor thing" She gushed. "Why don't I run you a nice hot bubble bath?" She suggested.

Nathan's eyes became almost as wide as dinner plates "Are you crazy?" he wanted to know. "He could very possibly have one of his muscle attacks in the tub. He could drown. He annunciated every word slowly as if he felt Niki wouldn't understand that concept. "I would not" Peter snapped indignantly. "I'd have to be pretty strange to drown in the bath tub, and I am not that strange." He continued shuddering. "Besides I'm freezing. It would actually feel nice." Nathan placed his hand lightly on Peter's fore head. "Well you don't feel warm." He observed. "But let's just make sure. Where do you keep your thermometer?" The thought of having a thermometer in his mouth made Peter feel like gagging. He covered his mouth as if he were about to vomit. "Do you need a bucket?" Nathan asked "No I'm fine" Peter said. "Okay fine than" Nathan said. "Where's your thermometer?" Peter once again gagged. That time he actually managed to vomit a tiny bit in his mouth. He swallowed. It tasted awful. "It's in the first drawer in the upstairs bathroom." He said reluctantly. Peter had always hated having his temperature taken. At least he did when it was done with the kind of thermometer that went under the tongue. He remembered when he was a kid it would make him gag so hard that he ended up throwing up all over anything and everything. Luckily he wasn't sick that often, so naturally he didn't need his temperature taken that often. Niki held on tightly to Peter's hand. "You don't have to stay here you know" He said weakly. "What about Micah? Who's taking care of him?" Niki stared at him quizzingly. "We talked about this last week remember? I took Micah over to space camp on Sunday. Remember? Both my father and I thought it would be good for him." Peter actually had not remembered that, because of course he had repressed his entire date with Niki.

"Space camp right" Peter said absently. "I knew that, anyway I'm sure you have other things to do, you know besides taking care of me." "No not really" She said. She squeezed his hand and gave it a light kiss. "Don't worry about that okay?" She said. Nathan came down the stairs. "All right" He said let's get this over with." "You don't need to take my temperature" Peter said. "I don't feel sick at all anymore. I'm better."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Very funny Peter" He said. "I know you hate having the thermometer under your tongue." He said reasonably. "I know it makes you gag." Peter nodded his head slowly. "But I'd really like to take your temperature." Nathan explained "I know you don't feel warm right now, but it never hurts to check. Now open your mouth!" He commanded. Peter kept his mouth clamped shut. "Look" Nathan said, "I got you a bucket. You know in case you feel like gagging. That way you won't throw up on anything important like you did that one time when we were kids remember?"

Peter sure did remember. He had thrown up all over an important essay that Nathan had written for school and had been very proud of. Unfortunately it was suppose to be due that very morning. It had taken him a really long time to forgive Peter, and he hadn't been too enthusiastic about having to explain to his teachers that he didn't have his essay with him because his little brother had thrown up on it. Peter managed to smile weakly at the memory, but continued to keep his mouth clamped shut. "Peter come on" Nathan said. "Stop being such a baby" Peter reluctantly opened his mouth and allowed Nathan to slip the thermometer under his tongue. "Don't worry" Nathan assured him, "It will over in only five minutes. It won't be so bad." He gave him a light pat on the cheek. Peter stared up at Nathan miserably. To him "only" five minutes seemed like a really long time. "All right" Nathan said. "Go ahead and close your lips" Peter miserably did as he was told. He surprised himself by lasting for the first three minutes without gagging. He than started to feel sick and began making loud moaning noises. "Quit whining Peter!" Nathan said rolling his eyes. "Nathan Seriously" Niki said "I think he's gagging. I think he really needs to throw up now" Nathan squeezed onto Peter's hand. "Hang in there" He commanded, "It's only for one more minute." Peter continued moaning. "My god Peter" Nathan said rolling his eyes. In what seemed like forever Nathan finally asked Peter to open his mouth so he could remove the thermometer. Peter right away started gagging. Nathan took that as a cue to leave the room. He took the thermometer with him into the kitchen. Peter then proceeded to vomit. Unfortunately he missed the bucket and ended up getting it all over Niki's fancy black high heals. "Damnit!" Niki swore under her breath. "Are you all right?" She asked trying to hide her annoyance. Peter's eyes filled with tears. "I'm so sorry Niki." He apologized. "That was a really nice pair of shoes. I'm so sorry I wrecked them."

"It's okay" Niki said giving him a sheepish smile "They weren't THAT nice." She gave him a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. "Besides" She said, "You're sick. It's not like you threw up on purpose or anything." Peter managed to smile weakly. Niki once again squeezed his shoulder gently. Just then Nathan returned from the kitchen. He appeared very perplexed. "Either there's something really wrong with this thermometer or there's something really wrong with Peter." "Why?" Niki asked "What does it say?"

"90.1 degrees" Nathan announced reading the thermometer. "Obviously that's a very low body temperature." Peter stared at him looking horrified. "Let me see that!" Niki said sounding unconvinced. "You're probably reading it wrong" She swiped the thermometer from his hands and began staring at it.

"Oh my god!" She cried sounding horrified. "90.1!" She read slowly annunciating every word. Peter continued shuddering. "What are we going to do now?" He moaned. Nathan put his hand on his shoulder. "Well first things first. Let's try taking it again!" He suggested. "Please no!" Peter cried. Nathan once again slipped the thermometer under his tongue. I'm sorry I have to put you through this once again" Nathan apologized. "I'd just like to make sure we we're accurate." Peter once again made a loud moaning noise. "Poor thing" Niki said. "He's so miserable" Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Same as before Peter" He said, "It will be over in 5 minutes." Peter continued moaning loudly "All right" Nathan said. "Fine than we'll leave it in for four minutes."

Peter moaned and held up three fingers. "No!" Nathan said "Four" Once again four minutes seemed to last forever and forever it seemed like a huge déjà vu. "All right Peter!" Nathan finally said. "Open your mouth." Peter did as he was told. He gagged once again and then belched loudly. Nathan stared again at the thermometer.

"What does it say?" Niki asked eagerly. "Same as before!" Nathan answered. "90.1 degree's" He looked at the thermometer a second time. "Wait a second" He said. "It's actually 90.0 degrees, it's dropped one degree. Niki would you mind getting him another comforter?" Niki nodded her head. "Hang in there" She said to Peter wrapping the comforter a tiny bit tighter around him. "This sucks!" Peter moaned. "I want my powers!" Nathan didn't seem to know what to say to that, he just continued holding Peter close to his body. "If I had my powers right now" Peter cried "than I'd be able to cure myself, I'd make all these symptoms go away, I'd be able to get myself warm." He felt his breathing become very shallow. It was making him feel increasingly uncomfortable that Nathan wasn't saying anything about anything. The two of them sat in uncomfortable silence for such a long time, that Peter was relieved when Niki finally came back down stairs. "Here you are" She said wrapping the second comforter around him.

"Does that help?" She asked nervously. Peter nodded his head slightly. "Yes thank you" He said. "Why don't I make you a hot drink?" Niki suggested. "Would you like that?" Peter felt his throat close up at the mention of drinking anything. Lately the muscles in his throat were becoming so weak that it was a major effort for him to swallow. "He'd like that very much" Nathan answered for him. "What would you like?" Niki asked. Peter continued to say nothing. "He doesn't really have a preference" Nathan explained. "Just any kind of hot liquid." "I'm actually not that thirsty!" Peter said weakly. "So don't bother. I'm perfectly fine." He gave her an a OK signal with his hand, then continued shivering. Niki firmly grabbed onto his shoulders and began shaking him. "Peter" She scolded. There was a hint of anger in her voice. "Look at you. You're freezing, you're miserable. You are NOT okay. You really need to get warm fast. The least you could do for yourself is to let me make you a hot drink, you need to drink something." Peter now realized exactly why he had dreaded Niki finding out about his symptoms besides the fact that he was adding to her problems. She was acting like such a piece of work at that point. In a strange way, Peter thought, she was beginning to sound a lot like his mother, but at least she wasn't forcing him to eat. He cringed at the thought. Peter had never by any means had much of an appetite, but at this point he had even less of one than usual. In fact even the thought of eating or even drinking anything made his stomach churn. "Shut up Mom!" He blurted out without thinking at all. "Niki!" Niki said correcting him. "I'm Niki." She than released her hands from his shoulders. "Peter just got a bit confused there" Nathan explained once again apologizing for Peter. "Peter" He said condescendingly, "That is not Mom okay?"

"It's not?" Peter asked irritably crossing his arms across his chest. "No it's not" Nathan said slowly "That would be Niki" "That's funny" Peter sulked, "Because she sure the hell is acting like Mom right now. 'You need to drink something' doesn't that sound familiar? Remember Mom when we were kids? 'You need to eat something'" he grinded his teeth in anger. "Well you know something?" Nathan asked. "Niki has a good point. You do need that hot drink right now. You're freezing and it's a good way to warm yourself up, you know as opposed to taking a bath and almost drowning." Peter scowled hard. He knew Nathan was right. Nathan was always right he thought miserably. "And it wouldn't hurt to eat something right now either before you waste away to nothing." Nathan continued

"No it really wouldn't hurt to eat something" Niki interjected. "Seriously have you eaten at all today?" Peter really wanted to slap Niki across the face, but he was far too weak to do such a thing. "Yes" He lied hoping Niki drop the matter all together. "What did you eat?" Niki pressed. "It's none of your business!" Peter snapped irritably. Niki stared at him worriedly, than she turned to Nathan. "I'm worried he doesn't eat enough" She told him. She was trying to speak quietly but Peter could still hear exactly what she was saying. He wasn't sure why it offended him so much but it did. He especially hated it that she was talking about him when he was right there. "You're absolutely right" Nathan said, "He doesn't eat quite enough." Peter slapped his fore head with his palm. "SHUT up, shut UP, SHUT UP! He suddenly snapped. That got Niki and Nathan's full attention. "What is your problem?" Niki asked sounding practically disgusted. Peter was too stunned to speak. Niki kept on talking. "Your brother and I are both really worried about you. We've been nothing but helpful, but obviously you don't appreciate it do you?" Peter sighed heavily. "Look I'm really sorry you guys" He said. "I do appreciate it really." His eyes glazed over with tears. "Just please stop forcing me to eat and drink. Please" Tears continued to blur his vision. "I seriously can't eat." He moaned. "Why not?" Nathan asked "Are you like physically incapable?" "Actually yes!" Peter moaned. Niki and Nathan stared worriedly at each other than at Peter. "Stop looking at me like that!" Peter snapped irritably. "Leave me alone both of you, I just want to be alone."

"Well" Nathan said, "That sure wasn't what you wanted a few hours ago" Peter sighed heavily. "Look" He said, "I'm really tired and sleepy." "Wow both?" Nathan asked. Peter rolled his eyes. "Look" He said again "I just really want to go to sleep" Of course he had only said that to get them off his back, but he soon realized that he really was feeling tired and sleepy. He couldn't even begin to guess why, considering the fact he hadn't done anything that whole day. He yawned widely than leaned his head on the back of the couch. "Niki would you mind keeping an eye on him for a little bit?" Nathan asked. For some reason Peter did not like the way Nathan put that, it seemed like he was once again implying that he needed a baby sitter. He might have as well come out and said, "Niki would you mind baby sitting him for a little while?" What did Nathan expect would happen if Niki wasn't 'keeping an eye on him'? "I'm going to go get him a couple of pillows from upstairs." "That would be great" Niki said. Nathan then headed up the stairs. "You know you don't have to keep an eye on me don't you?" Peter asked Niki. His voice came out sounding weak and breathless. Niki stroked his hair. "Peter listen to me okay?" She said. "I really don't think you understand" "Understand what?" Peter asked. Niki glanced at him sharply.

"Well duh!" She said, "You don't understand how serious this is. You're very sick. I want to take care of you. And I want you to let me." She gently massaged his spine. "I want you to want me to take care of you." She said. She then stopped what she was doing and looked Peter in the eye. Fresh tears began forming in her eyes. Peter stared at her indignantly. What did she think she was talking about? Of course he understood the seriousness of the whole situation. After all it was happening to his body. What could Niki possibly understand about any of it? What could Niki possibly do to make him better? Like Nathan, she did not have healing powers. Niki continued talking a mile a minute. Soon enough Peter could not understand a word she was saying. Pretty soon it all sounded like blah, blah, blah and a bunch of other gibberish. "Are you listening to me?" Niki asked. At least that part was coherent. Peter stared up at her slowly

"Yeah I heard you, weren't you like saying blah, blah, blah, blah, blah or something?" Niki smiled a tiny bit and rolled her eyes. "Was that really what I sounded like?" She asked. Peter nodded his head. "Wow touché!" Niki said. "You must think I'm a babbling idiot. I'm sorry." She continued massaging his spine. "Besides" She said, "You're obviously really tired so of course things are going to sound a bit incoherent to you." Peter once again yawned widely and leaned his head back against the couch. It felt very uncomfortable but at this point he was so tired he could go to sleep anywhere. "Hold on a second!" Nathan said. Peter groaned inwardly. He was just starting to dose off and was very rudely awaken.

"Nathan!" He whined. "I just thought you'd like to be more comfortable" Nathan said. He gently lifted Peter's head and placed a fluffy pillow underneath it. "There you are!" He said. "Now you can go to sleep." Peter was by that point so exhausted that he fell asleep instantly. When he awoke he found himself somewhere that was all too familiar. It was the same dark bleak cemetery that he had been visiting virtually every time he fell asleep, except for those rare times when he was visiting the morgue. As always there was a group of people surrounding a single grave stone and as always Peter was unable to see their faces that had always really scared him. As he walked towards the crowd they disappeared into a heavy fog. The fog was in fact so heavy that Peter was finding it hard to breath. Suddenly out of nowhere the single grave stone appeared in front of him. This was all too familiar. Usually Peter was unable to make out what the grave said, or else it would have no writing on it. This time the grave said in clear stone carved letters, Here lies Peter Petrelli. Suddenly the crowd of faceless people reappeared. They were all sobbing loudly.

"I'm right here you guys!" Peter said "I'm right here!" He began deliriously repeating it over and over again. He suddenly realized that he was safe in his own house, in his own living room, on his own couch. He breathed rapidly. "Are you all right Peter?" Nathan asked placing his hand on his shoulder. "You looked like you were in a having a fit or something just now." Peter drew in a deep breath "I'm dying!" He suddenly blurted out. "You're DYING?" Niki cried in disbelief. Tears filled her eyes. "No!" She blinked them back. "Please no!" She sighed. "I just saw my grave!" Peter explained. "In my dream I mean. Well actually it wasn't my dream it was uh actually a friends dream." Nathan rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid Peter" He said. "Okay fine" He said reluctantly. He really wasn't sure why he made up that alibi, but he then realized how stupid it really sounded. "It was my dream." He admitted. He than realized that his face was wet with tears. Once again he had started crying without realizing it. That had been happening quite a lot lately, and it was making him feel like he was really losing it. When he worked at the nursing home, many his patients had similar crying spells. So basically when that happened to him it made him feel demented so to speak. Now that he realized he was crying he was unable to stop himself. "Don't worry" Nathan said putting his hands on Peter's shoulders. "It was only a dream. You do realize that you don't have your precognition powers. It probably didn't mean anything."

"You don't understand" Peter cried. "It's not just the dream. I actually feel like I'm dying!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Nathan **

Nathan had arrived at work very early the next morning. He stared at his watch, 6:00 AM it read. It would be yet another hour before the other senators arrived. He continued feeling increasingly restless by the second. Even though he had not gotten any sleep the night before, he didn't feel at all tired. He was awake most of the night worrying about coming into work the next morning. He had decided that with Peter's deteriorating health, he was going to have to take some time off from his work, and in an hour he knew he would have to break the news. He tried to imagine how the other senators would handle it. He really hoped they wouldn't act all sympathetic. Out of all the ways they could possibly handle the news, sympathy would be the absolute worst. He did not want to be made into some kind of charity case. Nathan shuddered at that thought. There was absolutely no way he would be able to handle that. The harder he thought about it, he came to realize that, that was definitely how they were going to handle the news after all, how else were they supposed to act? Nathan continued nervously staring at his watch. Just than one of the other senators arrived. "Well you're here early!" He said to Nathan. "Yes!" Nathan said. "Excellent observation!" He folded his hands across the table and waited for the dreaded question. "So how's your brother?" The other senator asked almost on cue. Nathan held his breath and tried to stay calm. "Listen!" He said. "We'll discuss my brother's health or should I say his lack of health as soon as everyone else arrives." One by one each of the senators started entering the room. "We were so worried yesterday!" One of the female politicians announced. "Is your brother okay?" Asked another male politician, the same one in fact who had expressed his concern the day before.

Nathan buried his face with his hands. It was already seeming like a long morning. As soon as the last couple of senators arrived, Nathan stood up, cleared his throat and began making his announcement. "All right people, listen up!" He said in a loud voice. Everyone's full attention was on Nathan. Already everyone looked worried. "Something big has come up! And that means I'm going to have to take some time off for quite a while" He explained. "A major family issue as you probably already know." He sighed heavily. "My brother is" He tried to keep his voice began breaking. "Well he's real sick; in fact he's…….dying!" The words sounded foreign and bitter on his tongue. He hadn't meant to say that. It had completely slipped out. Suddenly the whole room became quiet, a reaction that Nathan had expected. What he hadn't expected was for everyone to be silent for so long. For about a half an hour no one said anything. "Oh God Damnit people!" Nathan finally snapped. "I can't stand all this silence anymore! God Damnit! Say something!" Than to himself he added, 'bring on the all you can eat buffet of sympathy.' He stared at everyone sharply. "Wow!" Said the person sitting to his right. "Just wow! I'm so sorry!" "Is he okay?" Asked the person sitting on his left. "What do you think is wrong with him?" Asked the person sitting across from him. "What's he dying of?" "Is there anything we can do?" The room that was just a few seconds ago dead silent was now filled with questions.

Just as Nathan had expected they were feeding him an all you can eat buffet of sympathy and he could not for the life of him digest it. Angrily he pounded his fist against the table. It made a loud noise that got everyone's attention. "Listen here people!" He snapped. "I did not tell you this so I could be made into a charity case, and I sure as hell hope that none of you are planning on making any publicity about this." A couple people looked guilty. Nathan assumed that they had been planning on it. "We totally understand why you're upset! We know how you feel" The one on his right said putting his hand on Nathan's shoulder. "Yeah" Everyone else in the room echoed. "Okay!" Nathan started. "Who else here has a younger brother?" Several people raised their hands. "Okay!" Nathan said, "Who else here has a very sick younger brother who is very possibly dying of a mysterious illness?" That time nobody raised their hands. "All righty than! That's what I thought" Nathan said nodding his head slowly. "Basically none of you people can possibly know how I'm feeling. None of you can possibly understand what I'm going through. So you know what? Just shut up! Shut up all of you" A couple of people began whispering to each other. The only word audible words he could hear were 'asshole' and 'jackass' "Do you have something you'd like to share with us?" Nathan snapped "Go ahead then. Spill. As a matter of fact go ahead and you don't have to just say it to my face. Go for it! Tell everyone in this room that you think I'm a jackass and an asshole."

"Okay!" One of the people who had been whispering about him said boldly. "I will be completely straight forward with you." Nathan nodded his head. "All right than bring it" He commanded. "I think you are being a major jackass and a complete asshole, and you don't deserve our pity. You don't deserve our sympathy. I'm not a jerk or anything, I do sympathize with your brother, I'm sure he's a really nice person, but I do not sympathize with you."

"Fine!" Nathan said flatly. "In fact good, because as you know I don't want your sympathy." He breathed heavily. He was worried that if he didn't leave the room he would really start losing it, without any explanation he left the room. By the time Nathan got into the lobby, he began to realize that he felt as sorry for himself as everyone else felt for him. The last thing he wanted was to feel self pity. After all he was not the one who was very possibly dying. Because he was both the healthy one, the older one, that meant he was supposed to be the responsible one. He shuddered at the thought. For about the 50th time in only a matter of two days Nathan wondered who the hell invented genius the concept of younger brothers. He hadn't even wanted a younger brother in the first place. What he really wanted was a cool older sibling like a lot of his friends had. He had fantasized about that quite a lot when he was a kid. He would always listen in envy, as his friends bragged about the cool and admirable things their older siblings achieved. Nathan had nothing absolutely to brag about. He found Peter extraordinarily boring. A lot of his friends who had younger siblings thought they were annoying. Nathan didn't even have that going for him. As far as Nathan was concerned, Peter was just kind of there and was about as interesting as a dried up piece of toast. He had always been so different from Nathan. Nathan had always been extremely popular and outgoing, always one of the cool kids. Always at the very top of the social pyramid. Peter on the other hand had always been very reserved, serious, somewhat withdrawn, and almost always keeping to himself. As for popularity, he was at the way bottom of the social pyramid and invisible to everyone. If Nathan thought about it hard enough, a lot of those personality traits were what made him annoying. And it wasn't just that, it was also the fact that he was often getting into trouble with his powers, ever since he had gotten them it had been virtually one huge disaster after another. Now that he didn't have his powers, it was the fact that he was so sick. Whatever the reason was, Nathan suddenly found Peter to be the most annoying person ever, down right exasperating in fact. In fact he was beginning to start hating him again. Nathan tried to push the negative thoughts about Peter out of his head. As much as he wanted a cool older sibling, or as much as he wanted to be an only child, he knew that, that was not the reality. He knew that the reality was that he had a younger brother, and that his younger brother needed him more than ever. A horrible thought suddenly came over Nathan that he was unable to push aside. Sooner or later it was very possible that Peter really was dying. Therefore it was very possible that Nathan would become an only child, and that would become the reality. What else was going to become the reality? Nathan wondered in complete panic. Was he going to have to become his brother's full time care taker? Would he have to move in to Peter's apartment? Would Peter have to move in with him and Heidi? The possibilities seemed endless and unbearable. The more Nathan thought about the whole thing, the more he wanted to break down and cry. But he knew that that was not a possibility. He was in a public place after all and it really worried him that someone would come into the lobby and see him. If anyone saw him crying they were bound to questions, and the whole situation was something he could absolutely not bare talking about again. Once he told them he'd probably be given even more sympathy. The last thing he wanted or needed was more sympathy. He felt his eyes fill with tears. He would not, he promised himself, allow them to fall. It was too late. Before he knew it the tears started flowing down his cheeks. He tried to snap himself out of it. 'Stop crying you wimp!' he scolded himself. 'You're supposed to be stronger than this' No matter how many times he scolded himself, he could not stop the tears from falling. Pretty soon he had no choice but to let himself give in. He was pretty sure that a few people came into the lobby but he no longer cared. It no longer mattered who saw him crying. At that point, all he wanted to do was wallow in self pity. Soon enough he was literally bawling, in fact, he was crying so hard that snot was streaming from his nose. 'Look at you' he scolded himself once again 'You're so pitiful' He had absolutely no right to be pitying himself, but at the same time he did pity himself and he couldn't stop pitying himself, he could not stop pitying the whole situation. A couple of people were staring at him; they did not ask any questions. But one woman silently offered him a tissue. "No!" Nathan snapped, "No I don't need a tissue. I'm fine! Leave me alone!" She looked so hurt, that Nathan felt almost guilty about being mean to the perfectly nice stranger, but he didn't feel much like apologizing. "I'm fine!" He said, this time trying not to sound like a complete jerk. He wiped his tears. The next thing he knew his phone was going off. Nathan was almost positive it was Peter again. He answered it right away without even reading who it was from. "Nathan!" A stern voice said into the phone, "It's your mother!" Nathan's throat suddenly felt dry. He had to swallow a couple of times before he could finally speak. "Listen!" Angela said. "The reason I called you is because I kept trying to reach your brother, but he hasn't been answering either of his phones. I know he's in a lot of trouble because…" She sobbed. "Because you had one of your prophetic dreams!" Nathan finished off for her. "Yes I know!"

"Have you been able to reach him?" Angela asked, her voice sounding very tense. "As a matter of fact yes!" Nathan said. "I was actually the first person he thought of calling. He insisted that he needed me. So I came over" "I can't believe he didn't think of calling ME! I can't believe he didn't insist that he needed me." Angela said, her voice was filled with hurt. "Look mom!" Nathan said biting down on his lip. "Don't you think it would be a lot easier if we had this conversation in person rather than over the phone?" "Well yes!" Angela said. "I think that sounds like a great idea. Why don't you go ahead and come on over?" "I'll be right over than" Nathan said grudgingly. Angela was very busy in the kitchen when Nathan arrived at her house. She must have gotten up extra early that morning to make all that food. The overwhelming aroma of Italian food was making him practically dizzy with hunger. Already he knew that all that food was for Peter, and that he was not allowed to have any of it. It was pure torture. "Come on in" She instructed. Nathan reluctantly stepped into the kitchen. "Seriously mom!" Nathan said. "All of this food for just one person? That sure isn't healthy." Since Angela's back was turned Nathan decided it would be a good opportunity to steal some of the food. He began cutting himself a slice of lasagna, hoping that his mom wouldn't notice. Angela slapped his hand. "No!" She snapped "Not for you! You don't need it!" Nathan sighed in exasperation. "Answer me this Nathan!" Angela said. "When you last saw your brother how did he look?"

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked. "You know what I mean!" Angela snapped. "Do you think he's been eating? Was he particularly skinny? I mean any skinnier than usual?" Nathan couldn't resist. "He's like a tooth pick almost, I could practically see his rib cage." Angela looked horrified. She put her hand over her mouth. "Well that is just NOT okay!" She snapped. "No" Nathan said "I suppose it's really not okay! But it's not his fault." "Thankfully that problem can be solved" Angela said. "So Nathan" She continued. "How else did he seem? Is there anything else I need to know about? My prophetic dream was actually very vague, not too specific at all."

"He's very weak" Nathan explained. "I asked him to explain his weakness for me and he compared it to the effects of muscle relaxants." Angela looked confused. "Okay listen" Nathan said. "Before you say anything, I'd like to make it clear to you that he did not actually take any muscle relaxants, so you don't have to worry that he's a drug addict or anything" "Of course he's not a drug addict! That's just not who Peter is." Angela said indignantly. Nathan rolled his eyes. "Well ANYway!" He said. "He also has a very low body temperature. About 90.0 degrees."

"I see!" Angela said nodding her head very slowly. Nathan half expected her to freak out about that piece of information, though he wasn't sure why he half expected that. It was almost exasperating how calm she was being about the whole thing. "I can't believe this mom!" He snapped. "Aren't you worried about this at all? Aren't you worried that there could be something really wrong with him?" "Well" she said thoughtfully, "By the way you're describing his symptoms, it sounds like he's obviously clinically depressed. I mean obviously, he's not eating, he's weak…." "Well try explaining his very low temperature, how does that possibly relate to Clinical Depression?"

"Well obviously!" Angela said. "It's because he's not going outside enough he's obviously not getting enough sun." "Oh Puh'Lease!" Nathan said rolling his eyes. "You do understand that he's not cold blooded." Now it was Angela's turn to roll her eyes. "He also doesn't have his powers anymore!" Nathan blurted out. "They're gone!" "Well I'm sure they're not gone!" Angela said. "He probably hasn't even tried using them."

"Believe me mom" Nathan said, "He has been trying, he really wants to heal himself. He's been suffering from so much pain and so much weakness lately." "Probably emotional pain if anything" Angela said. "You know how Peter is. You're going to have to admit that brother's just not a very happy person. Never has been really. He has kind what I like to refer to as a depressive personality. Do you know what I mean?" Nathan tried to think about what his mother meant by a depressive personality. He thought very hard about Peter's personality traits. A lot of different words came to mind; quiet, reserved, monotoned, serious, emotional, sensitive, all of those qualities seemed a bit depressive, but up until that moment Nathan had never really thought about it in that way. "Yes!" Nathan said, "I suppose I know what you mean."

"I've been trying to get him to read this book." She explained, handing it to Nathan I'm actually planning on giving it to him when I take the food over." Angela said. Nathan stared at it. "The Noonday Demon: Atlas of Depression!" He said reading the title. "Seriously mom?" He asked, "You seriously think this book is going to help? Is that a joke of some sort?" "Of course it's not a joke!" Angela snapped indignantly. "Your brother's Depression is not a joke" Nathan rolled his eyes. Angela was making him do that quite a lot "Do you really think anything you're doing is going to help?" I can promise you he won't eat any of this food. He's like practically appetite retarded or something."

"How dare you say that?" Angela snapped. "Your brother is NOT retarded." Nathan smirked "Really?" He asked, "Are you sure about that?" He wasn't quite sure why he said it, except that for some reason it seemed to him like the right thing to say at the time. Almost instantly Angela slapped him across the face and she did not go lightly at all "Okay I suppose I deserved that!" Nathan said rubbing his cheek. "Damn right you deserved that!" Angela snapped. "What did you mean asking something like that? Where do you get off being so mean?"

"To be honest with you" Nathan said, "I don't know why I said it. I suppose you weren't supposed to hear me say that." "Oh?" Angela asked. "Well nice job with that."

"Look mom!" Nathan said. "I was being dead serious about him being appetite retarded. His appetites in fact even worse than usual. I don't think he'd be very happy with you trying to feed him." "You said he was toothpick skinny" Angela said "Did you not say that? Did you not say that you could practically see his rib cage? Could you not see his rib cage?"

"All right fine!" Nathan said grudgingly. "What's your point?" "Seriously?" Angela snapped. "You seriously can't see what my point is? My point is that he needs to eat no matter how terrible he may feel. Sometimes your brother gets so depressed that he eats even less than usual. Sometimes he refuses to eat at all. We can absolutely not have that happen again." "It's happened before?" Nathan asked. "I don't know if you're aware of this," Angela said huffily "But there was a time that your brother actually stopped eating. It In fact lasted for an entire year." Nathan stared at her blankly. "When he was six." Angela stated "I'm sure you do not remember. You were probably way too busy being cool and popular that you probably didn't even notice. But let me tell you something, it was very traumatic for both me and for your father." Nathan actually did remember that, because it had been one of the only times that Peter had done anything that he truly considered annoying and not to mention bratty. Although he was very popular at school and seemed happy, what Nathan really wanted was for his parents to pay attention to him once in a while. He wanted more than anything to be noticed. But it was always all about Peter. "I was very much aware of that!" Nathan said coming back into the presents. He thought about it even harder. As boring as he thought Peter was, he often couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. The way Angela was always forcing food on him when he obviously wasn't hungry; it was no mystery why his brother all together refused to eat. If Angela had treated Nathan that way, he would probably lose his appetite too. He suddenly realized exactly why Peter didn't call his mom right away to tell her about his symptoms. She was going to try to solve it all with food and with books like The Noonday Demon: Atlas of Depression. Nathan once again felt very sorry for Peter; he had made it clear that he was physically incapable of eating. "Seriously mom" Nathan snapped "leave him alone!"

"I don't think you understand Nathan!" Angela said disapprovingly. "No!" Nathan snapped "I think that you're the one who doesn't understand." He was suddenly feeling his eyes fill with tears again. "Peter's very sick! He may very possibly be dying! And it's not just the fact that he's been dreaming interchangeably about the cemetery and the morgue every night. He said that he actually feels like he's dying." Angela did not look she was buying any of it. "If you don't believe me, you will when you go over there! Trust me mom, you'll see. And I really hope that you feel like a complete idiot when you find out there's something way wrong with him besides clinical depression."

"Well!" Angela said evenly. "Clinical Depression is a huge issue. You do understand that don't you?" Nathan gave out yet another sigh of exasperation. "And by the way you've been describing his things," Angela continued "It sounds to me like that's most definitely wrong with him. I'm not surprised at all that he's having nightmares about the morgue and the cemetery. I do understand Nathan. I understand perfectly well that Peter is sick. You're absolutely right about that. Your brother is very sick. Very VERY sick." Nathan threw back his head and tossed his hands up in the air. "Oh well halleluiah!" He said in exasperation. "Now you understand. Well it's about time. I know how it probably is. You just didn't want to admit it at first, but there is something wrong with Peter."

"I'm not sure you understand this or anything" Angela said. "But Clinical Depression is an illness, it is a disease. And it is very serious. He may feel like his muscles are weak, he may feel tired, he may be in pain, he may feel like his powers are gone, but let me tell you something Nathan, each and every one of those symptoms are," She pointed to the top of her head. "Up here, in his head." "Say what ever you want mom" Nathan said, "But Peter is not depressed" "He's not?" Angela asked, folding her arms across her chest. "How so?" "He's just very sad. And why shouldn't he be? He's dying."

"Will you stop saying that already?" Angela snapped. "Unless he's planning on committing suicide, which he's absolutely not, not if I can help it, or unless he starves himself to death, which I am also not going to let happen then he's not going anywhere. I'm going to go head over to his apartment, you coming with me or not?" "Not!" Nathan said crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Besides, it's really important that I clear everything out with my family, I'm thinking of taking them out for lunch at It Sounds Italian" Obviously he was still craving Italian food. He took in a deep breath. "You see, the thing is, Heidi doesn't know about Peter yet. And she also doesn't know that I'm taking time off of work." He sighed heavily. "I just think it would be good for me to give her and the kids a heads up. We may have to deal with quite a few life changes. Peter may have to move in with us, I may have to move in with him, who knows what's going to happen? Whatever the case is, it's important that they know."

"Please don't do this Nathan!" Angela said. "You're being completely ridiculous and you know it. You have a perfectly good life. You have so much going for you. You shouldn't throw it all away just because of your bothers illness." Nathan cringed "Mom please!" he said "I really need to make this phone call." "Fine!" Angela said, "Have it your way then!" On his cell phone he instantly punched in Heidi's phone number. She instantly picked up the phone, already she sounded very unhappy. "Nathan, I kept trying to call you yesterday, but you wouldn't answer your phone. The boys had a soccer game last night, their team won; they were both so disappointed that you weren't there for it. I hope you had a good excuse!" She was sounding angrier by the second. "But I'm sure you did not, I'm sure it was something work related. It always is. You always chose your job over our family! Besides you weren't suppose to be going to work you were supposed to be taking it easy." Nathan let out a sigh of exasperation. That was exactly what the doctor had told him after he had recovered from his bullet wound. He did not need Heidi repeating his word for word. Nathan had never been the type of person to "take it easy." He had always been an over achiever by nature.

"Heidi listen to me! There's something really important that I need to talk about with you and the kids. I'd for us all to go out for lunch. I'm thinking we should go to It Sounds Italian maybe at 11:30." "I'm not in the mood for Italian!" Heidi said irritably.

"All right fine!" Nathan said evenly. "We'll go where ever you want to go." "What is this about?" Heidi asked still sounding irritated. Nathan sighed heavily. "It's about Peter" He said. "Oh my god!" Heidi said the irritation in her voice seemed to disappear at once. "Is he all right?" She asked. Nathan was getting so damn sick of that question. No one ever bothered to ask how he [Nathan] was doing. The situation was just as painful for him. It was just like what had happened when Peter refused to eat when they were kids. "No!" He said tightly. "He's very sick. The reason why I couldn't come to the soccer game yesterday was because, he needed me. He needed me to take care of him. I couldn't leave him alone, not in his condition. Listen let's discuss this more in depth when we get to the restaurant" He was starting to feel his eyes tear again.

"I'm so sorry!" Heidi said. "I'm in the mood for Mexican by the way" She added. Nathan couldn't help thinking that sounded banal. "Why don't we meet at the Perez Café?" "Fine!" Nathan said. He couldn't care less where they went to eat, just as long as it served food. Thanks to Angela and her cooking, he was starving." "The Perez Café it is than" Nathan said. "Listen!" Heidi continued. "The boys get done with day camp at 11:00. I'll pick them up and then we can all meet at the restaurant. How does that sound?" "Fine!" Nathan said. "See you then!"

"All right Nathan!" Angela said, "I'm off." She dropped a kiss on his forehead. "Look" She said, "You honestly don't have to do this, you honestly don't have to let Peter take advantage of you. In fact I think you should go back to work and let me take care of your brother." "Goodbye Mom!" Nathan said impatiently, opening the door for her. She turned around. "Don't forget Nathan!" She said. "This is MY house, so you have basically no right to kick me out. I'll be leaving anyway. She stomped outside and slammed the door behind her. Nathan stared at the clock 9:30. He still had plenty of time to kill. He realized that with one important phone call down, he still had two important phone calls to make. He had been thinking very hard about Peter's main complaint which was muscle weakness. He held his breath and then grasped onto the yellow pages. Right away he tried to find a doctor that specialized in disorders of the muscular system. He knew that was going to be very a risky move, but decided he could no longer stand not knowing what was wrong with Peter. He also couldn't stand his mother insisting that he had depression and that was all that was wrong with him. Selfishly he was very excited about proving his mother wrong and making her look the stupid idiot she was being. Nathan immediately began punching in the number. "May I help you?" Asked a female voice. "It's about my brother!" Nathan explained. He's been complaining an awful lot about muscle weakness! I know very well that he's not planning on making his own appointment any time soon, you see, he prefers to keep to himself. So anyway I feel that it's my job as his older brother to make this appointment for him. And also my job as his older brother to make sure he keeps his appointment. Younger brothers" He scoffed "Are just about the worst type of people. They're such a bummer" He knew all too well that he was being judgmental. After all he didn't have anything against younger brothers. He just had something against a certain younger brother that just so happened to be his younger brother. Anyway, he was mostly angry at the situation. How could he possibly be angry at Peter when he was so weak, so vulnerable, so helpless, and so….. Dying? Ironically what made him angriest at Peter was that he couldn't be angry at him.

"Well I wouldn't know about that!" The receptionist said interrupting his thoughts "My younger brother's a very awesome person. Besides I know plenty of terrible people who aren't anyone's younger brother." Nathan sighed heavily, wishing she would shut the fuck up, and stop being so damn condescending. "Listen" He said. "You don't have to argue with me about what I just said. In fact please don't. It's very obnoxious and rude, besides I did not call to make chit chat" He let out another sigh. "I'd really like for you to order some tests." "Then I would be happy to do that for you" The receptionist said. "Just hold on for a minute or so." Nathan nervously sat waiting, with the receiver pressed against his ear. He really hoped that whatever was wrong with Peter could be cured, particularly by the use of healing powers. The next thing he knew, the receptionist was back on the line. "Thank you so much for your patients" She said apologetically. "Would Friday at 1:00 work for your brother?" Suddenly Nathan came to the realization that he hadn't said a word about any hospital, or appointment, or doctors or tests to Peter. It made him feel like a huge idiot.

"I suppose that would work out fine!" He said flatly. Right after hanging up the phone, he realized that he was going to have to call Peter. He groaned inwardly as he began dialing Peter's home number. 'Please pick up' he prayed to himself. It turned out to be Niki who answered the phone. "Oh hello Niki" Nathan said sounding disappointed, "May I please speak with my brother?" "Oh you'd like to speak with Peter?" Niki asked. She sounded slightly nervous. "No Niki I'd like to speak with my OTHER brother!" Nathan said rudely. He tried again "May I speak to PETER? He asked, very rudely specifying it for her. He could hear Niki sigh heavily over the phone "Well" She said, "The thing is he's kind of taking a nap right now. I've got to tell you Nathan he's actually gotten quite a bit worse since you left. But on the bright side, at least I finally managed to some liquid in him." Her voice sounded full of guilt, and Nathan noticed that right away. "What did you give him?" He asked. His voice was rising with panic. Niki fell silent for quite some time. "Why the hell do you sound so guilty?"

"I just mixed him a cocktail of a little bit of whisky, a shot of brandy. And a shot of vodka. But don't worry; I watered it down quite a lot." She continued to sound guilty. "And I suppose I slipped one of my Ambien pills in as well." "So you went ahead and drugged him? You drugged my brother?" "Please don't be angry." Niki pleaded. "Your brother was very agitated; I didn't know what else to do. I panicked okay?" "Well Wake him up!" Nathan commanded. "There's something very important that I need to talk about with him." "Oh what?" Niki asked. "It's none of YOUR business!" Nathan snapped. "Now wake him up this instant. "I really don't think I should wake him up. He needs to sleep." "What part of really important do you not understand? Was it the REALLY part or the IMPORTANT part?" Nathan snapped. "I'll see what I can do." Niki said sounding intimidated.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Peter**

Peter was suddenly awakened when he felt someone jostling him. He opened his eyes very slowly and saw that Niki was hovering over him. Apparently she had spent the night. Peter felt his eyes fill with tears of guilt. She could have very well gone home and went on with her life. "Did you have a nice nap?" She asked.

"Yeah I suppose so" Peter said. Strangely enough he hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep. For once he hadn't dreamt about the morgue or the cemetery. In fact he was pretty sure that he hadn't dreamt at all. The thought scared him. In a way he almost would have preferred dreaming about his death to not dreaming. "Nathan's on the phone!" Niki announced interrupting his thoughts. "Apparently there's something very important he wants to talk to you about." Peter felt very pathetic, but the whole concept of walking all the way in to the kitchen in order to answer the phone seemed like an impossible task. As a matter of fact just the concept of having a conversation over the phone seemed like an impossible task. He clutched onto his head. It hurt like crazy. "I'm really not up for talking to him" He moaned "would you mind telling him that?" Niki gave his shoulder a light squeeze. "Sure!" She said, "I'll let him know." With that she grabbed the portable phone from the kitchen. "I'm sorry" She said returning into the living room. "But Peter really doesn't feel like talking right now. Maybe you could call him back later. Okay?" She than fell silent for a while. "Uh'huh!" She finally said slowly. "Okay than!" She handed Peter the phone. Peter groaned inwardly. "Don't worry!" Niki said "Nathan understands perfectly that you don't feel like talking. And you don't have to, you can just listen. Apparently that's something you're really good at." Peter reluctantly grabbed on to the phone.

"Here's the deal Peter!" Nathan said. "I knew you weren't going to do it for yourself, so I went through the liberty of making you a doctor's appointment. You're welcome!" "You what?" Peter asked. He was in pure shock. "Friday at 1:00" Nathan said flatly. Peter felt his breathing become rapid. He took a couple of deep breaths in order to stop himself from hyperventilating. "I'm not going!" He coughed out. "You can't make me!" He slumped his body into a pouting position. "Peter listen to me" Nathan said. "If you really don't care about your own health, if you really don't care that you may be dying, than that's just fine. Because very clearly you don't give a rat's ass. I really don't understand why not, I mean after all, it is YOUR problem, but fine whatever. That certainly doesn't mean you should care." Peter slumped his body even farther into a pouting position. Who the hell did Nathan think he was? He wanted to know. He really hated his brother at that point. But for some reason he was unable to bring himself to admitting so. He didn't feel like talking in the first place anyway. He grit his teeth in anger. "You are not off the hook you know." Nathan continued. "Whether you like it or not. You ARE going to that god damn fucking doctors appointment" Peter became very silent as he often did when he was very angry. "Look" Nathan said. "I talked with mom earlier today"

"Yeah?" Peter asked apathetically. "I told her all about your attacks of muscle weakness, your low body temperature, your nightmares everything" Nathan continued

"Yeah?" Peter asked again. "She believes that she knows exactly what the diagnosis is. Get this! Obviously you're suffering from Clinical Depression. Can you believe that? I know very well that that's not the case and I'm sure you also know that that's not the case." "I'm very clinically depressed" Peter said hastily "Bye!" He was about to hang up the phone, but Nathan stopped him right away.

"Peter wait" He commanded. "Don't hang up the phone." Peter grudgingly stayed on the line. "Listen" Nathan said. "I understand about your attacks. I understand that the muscle weakness was your main complaint. That's why I made you an appointment with a doctor that specializes in disorders of the muscular system." Peter covered his face. "Oh Nathan you didn't! Please tell me you didn't" He cried. "What are you talking about Peter?" Nathan asked, "I just told you that I DID. Don't you listen? Don't you have ears? And by the way thank you would have been the polite thing to say." He scolded. "I went through a whole lot of trouble you know. It took me forever to locate the phone number, than I had to deal with the super obnoxious receptionist. Don't even make me get into that." 'Wow poor you!' Peter thought bitterly to himself. "Fine!" he said grudgingly.

"So you're going?" Nathan asked. "No!" Peter said stiffly. "I meant fine that you went through a whole lot of trouble." "Peter listen to me okay? You listening?" Nathan said. "Yes!" Peter said grudgingly "We both know very well that you are not clinically depressed. Well maybe you are, but we know that's not the problem. Do you want to prove mom wrong or not?" Peter suddenly without any warning at all burst into tears, which only proved that he had some level of clinical depression. "You don't care about me!" He sobbed. "You only care about proving Mom wrong. You couldn't care less about my health. You don't give a damn" He continued to sob bitterly.

"Peter!" Nathan said evenly, "Please don't cry! I'm really in no mood to deal with your emotion. How could you say that by the way? How could you say I don't give a damn about your health? I went through drastic measures to make this appointment, I requested time off work, I had to miss quality time with my family and miss my son's soccer game yesterday, because I was over here taking care of you. You want to know why that is? It's because I give a damn. That's why!" Peter sniffled loudly. "So!" Nathan asked, "You're going to the appointment?"

"I'll think about it!" Peter said feeling very defeated. "Good" Nathan said. "Hopefully you'll have thought about it enough by Friday. I'll be over at 12:30."

"Fine!" Peter said again, he didn't wait for Nathan to say anything else; he just hung up the phone. He noticed that Niki hadn't moved from her position. She was still standing right in front of him with her arms crossed across her chest. "All right Niki" Peter said, "How much of our conversation did you hear?" "Well basically" She said, "I heard pretty much everything from your end of the line. Enough to know that you have some kind of VERY important doctor's appointment." She squeezed his shoulders. "I know it's probably not my business or anything" Niki said, "But I think you should go!"

"Whose side are you on?" Peter moaned. Niki gave him a worried look. "Seriously?" She asked. "I'm not taking sides. I just think that if there's something wrong with you it's probably best to get it checked. That's all." Suddenly Niki's phone started going off. The sound was like orange juice to his ears. For a brief moment, he would be free from having to discuss his appointment with Niki. "You might want to get that" He said. "I was going to, I was going to" Niki said casually. "Hello!" She said. "It's Micah's camp counselor" She told Peter, then she got back on the line. "He did what? Oh my god, I'm so sorry to hear that, usually my son's so much better behaved than that. He knows better" She fell silent for a while. "Okay" She finally said, "I'll go pick him up. It's a day early but who cares right?" She angrily hung up the phone. "I'm very sorry about that" She apologized. "I have to pick Micah up from space camp a day early. He was supposed to be there for five days, not four. Apparently he was very bad. Apparently he bit another kid."

"Wow!" Peter said not knowing what else to say. "Oh well" Niki sighed heavily, "It wasn't like he was having a fun time at camp anyway. According to his camp counselor he was miserable. He wasn't talking to the other children, he was crying himself to sleep every night, he was refusing to participate in any of the activities, I'm almost surprised he made it for four out of five days" "That's better than I did my first and only time I might add at camp" Peter said, he couldn't help smiling a tiny bit at the memory. "I was so homesick that my councilor decided it would be a good idea for me to spend the night in Nathan's cabin. So I was only eight years old than okay? So I suppose she somehow decided that it wouldn't be at all intimidating for me to spend the night with a bunch of twelve year olds. I guess she assumed that Nathan was going to be protective of me. Anyway It ended up being virtually the most miserable thing ever. I'm pretty sure it ruined the first night of Nathan's camp experience as much as it ruined mine. The only reason he agreed to it in the first place was because he knew it was only going to be for one night. But apparently it made his first night at camp really boring for him, and he had been so damn excited about going with his insanely huge group of his insanely popular friends. My mom seemed to think there was something wrong with me because, I wasn't excited, nor did I have a huge group of friends, or any friends at all for that matter to go with. Anyway Nathan's friends sure as hell weren't my friends. They were not nice to me at all, and Nathan didn't even once correct their behavior. The problem was, when his friends weren't around he was very nice and protective of me, he was the ideal big brother almost," The memory brought tears to his eyes, though he couldn't quite figure out why. "But when they were all there, they all made so much fun of me for being homesick, and for being such a crybaby. All of them, including Nathan. Apparently it was VERY uncool for him to stand up for his younger brother."

"Wow!" Niki said. "That's just, that's just REALLY mean! And wow really depressing too. Kids can just be so mean. You know," She looked guilty. "I only went to camp one year and guess what! I was actually one of the mean kids." Her voice became quiet as if she were hiding a dirty secret. "My sister Jessica, a couple of our cabin mates and I were all very mean to this one girl in our cabin. I can't remember why. It was mostly Jessica and the other's who were the meanest, Jessica was pretty much the ringleader. I actually didn't think she was all that bad, but I as always I wanted to fit in with them, so I was pretty much a follower." There was something comforting Peter decided about sharing camp experiences with Niki. It almost for the time being made him forget about all his troubles. "Anyway," Niki continued "Jessica totally took advantage of the fact that I was her identical twin. One day she decided play this really mean prank on the girl. It was such a long time ago that I can't remember what the prank was. Anyway, she [Jessica] went and told everyone that I did it, which got me suspended from camp. I never went back. And I don't think Micah should ever go back either. Not to that camp anyway, not any camp for that matter. I seriously don't think he's ready for camp yet." She looked down at her watch. "Oh shit" She said "I'm probably late, and I told the counselor I'd be on my way. They're probably all wondering what's happened to me. Are you going to be all right here by yourself?"

"Yeah I suppose so." Peter said. "I won't be gone long" She promised. "I'm just going to pick up Micah and drop him off at Monica's house for a while." "He's a good kid you know" Peter said. "Huh?" Niki asked sounding a bit spaced out. "Micah" Peter said, "He's a good kid, he's just been having a lot of issues that's all. And why shouldn't he be? He did just lose his father" "Yeah I know that, but that's no excuse for biting." Niki said stiffly. Peter liked Micah, even though it was very clear that the feeling was not mutual. When it came to disliking Peter, Micah was not at all subtle. He was constantly very rude to Peter's face. He had dubbed him, 'Peter-Peter bird seed eater' after Niki told him that he ate like a bird. Peter actually found that to be very cleaver. He knew that Micah just didn't like him because he thought he 'wasn't his father and tried not to take it personal. At the same time however, it made him feel kind of sad that Micah didn't like him. He had tried so hard to be someone Micah would find likable. But no matter how hard he tried, he knew he could never be like Micah's father. Therefore he was never good enough in Micah's eyes.

"Don't punish him too hard okay?" Peter said as Niki was just about to head out the door. Niki sighed heavily. "Well he needs to know that biting is NOT okay." She said. She dropped Peter a kiss on the top of his head. "Take care of yourself" She said. She headed out the door and than turned around. "Your mom's here" She announced.

"Great" Peter moaned. "Are you sure?" "I just saw her car pull up into the driveway. Than I saw her get out, so yeah. I'm pretty sure she's here." Niki said. "So I guess that means I should be getting out of here, you know how much she can't stand me" "Could you do me a big favor," Peter asked "And tell her that I'm not here?" He buried himself under the two comforters. At that moment, he wished more than anything that he could turn invisible. "I don't think I can do that" Niki said apologetic. "I don't think she'll believe that. After all where would you have gone?"

"Good point" Peter said sounding defeated. "Could you tell her that I'm not in the mood to see her then?" He asked. "I know I've lost a ton of weight. I know I've gotten a lot skinnier, I mean look at me I'm a Friggin tooth pick. I don't want her to have to see that. She'll be so mad at me." He wrapped the comforters tightly around himself.

"Well that's just ridiculous" Niki said. "It's not like it's your fault or anything; but yeah sure, I'll tell her that you're not in the mood for visitors." "Thanks'" Peter said weakly. Just than Angela began pounding on the door. Niki got answered it right away. Peter stayed on the couch and listened to their conversation. "Nicole" Angela said disgustedly "What the HELL are you doing here?"

"Actually I was just leaving" Niki said. "Good!" Angela said. "No wonder Peter's so damn depressed, if he's hanging out with you. You're so damn depressing." Peter hung his head down hoping Niki would leave soon, before Angela tore her to shreds.

"Oh by the way," Niki said tightly "Peter told me to tell you that he's not in the mood for visitors." "Well obviously you're a visitor, so obviously he isn't NOT in the mood for visitors." "If he can deal with you being here," Angela said "Than he can definitely deal with ME being here. Now let me in" She shoved Niki out of the way. Niki gave Peter a sympathetic look, and then left. Angela walked over to the couch, and kissed Peter on the top of his head. She than stared at his comforters that were wrapped tightly around his body. "Seriously Peter it's about 90 degrees outside, you can't possibly be cold! Take off those god damn ridiculous comforters." Peter was freezing. After all his body temperature was very low. On top of that, he was not about to reveal to her what a skeleton he had become. His mother appeared so intimidating that he instantly removed the comforters. Angela's eyes became practically as wide as dinner plates.

"My god Peter!" She cried. "Your brother was not exaggerating when he said you were tooth pick thin." As she began examining Peter from head to toe, Peter felt his stomach tighten. "You've REALLY let yourself go!" She said disgustedly. "You know there are starving children in third world countries, who are so poor they can't afford any food." 'Great' Peter thought to himself. Once again Angela was going after him with another starving children rant. She kept examining him from head to toe. "You on the other hand. You have no excuse to look like this; I give you plenty of money for food. You should not have to starve. You should not be starving" He didn't feel like explaining to his mother that there was absolutely no way he was starving. How could he possibly be starving if he weren't even hungry? "That reminds me," Angela said "I have a bunch of food for you in my car. I better go get it." She handed him a book. "Why don't you read this while you're waiting, I think it will be very beneficial for you." Peter groaned inwardly when he saw what book it was. Damn book on him a couple weeks ago when he had been feeling depressed about Nathan getting shot. "Not the Atlas of Depression again" Peter moaned. "Haven't we been through this already? I'm not IN to geography."

"That's really not funny Peter" Angela said. "It wasn't funny the first time either for that matter." She dropped another kiss on the top of his head. "Enjoy your book. I'll be right back with the food. Than we can talk about stocking up your refrigerator. I made you enough food to last a month. This way you won't have to starve." She told him. Peter felt his stomach tie itself into a big knot. Or maybe it was his throat. Or possibly both. It was hard for him to tell. Either way, there was absolutely no way he was capable of eating. Who did Angela think she was ranting about starving children in third world countries? If he had his powers, he would teleport himself to each of the third world countries and give his mother's food to the starving children. Unlike him, those children actually WERE starving and really would appreciate it. Angela returned. As she promised she had a huge pile of food. The smell was making him so nauseated that he swore he was going to throw up all over the place. He took in a deep breath and tried very hard to ease the feeling. He than belched so loudly, that he startled himself as if he didn't know he was capable of making such a noise.

"PETER!" Angela snapped almost dropping everything. "What the hell happened to your manners? You're usually so polite."

Peter didn't even bother excusing himself. He just buried himself under the covers. That way he could get away from the overwhelming smell.

"Peter, you're being very ridiculous and childish" Angela snapped. She than pulled the covers down from his head. "Now why don't you take a look at what I've made for you? I've been slaving over it all morning, so you better appreciate it." Peter once again felt nauseated. He breathed heavily. "Look" He said, "I really do appreciate it and everything. It's just that I have no appetite. I seriously can't eat." Angela put her arm around him. "Look Peter" She said. "I know you feel depressed, but you need to get on with your life. I promise you, you'll feel a lot better if you start taking better care of yourself. That starts with eating. I'd feel like a really shitty parent if I let you starve yourself."

"It's not going to happen" Peter explained weakly. "I can't starve myself if I'm not even hungry." He sighed heavily. "I really wish I had my powers right now" He moaned. "Than I could teleport to Ethiopia or wherever and give this food to all the starving children."

"Look here Peter" Angela said. "I did not get up super early to make this food for the starving children in Ethiopia; I got up super early to make this food for YOU! It's not that I'm not worried about those children. It's just that it's so much more productive for me to worry about my own son." She gave him a light pat on the cheek. "Anyway Peter, you probably don't even know where Ethiopia is, you know considering the fact that you're not IN to geography. It's important to know where you're teleporting. You know?"

Peter wasn't sure why, but what his mother just said really hurt his feelings. "I do so know where Ethiopia is!" He sulked. "It's in Africa DUH! That really hurt my feelings Mom." Angela sighed heavily. "That's part of your problem" She said. "You just let your feelings get hurt WAY too easily. Anyway" She continued. "I don't think you are powerless. I think you could very well teleport if you tried. You just feel like you're powerless because you feel so depressed. You've just given up trying."

"That's not true!" Peter cried. "I've been trying almost constantly to use my healing powers. I swear they're not working. Don't you think I want to get rid of my muscle weakness? In fact right now I'm feeling really desperate, you see, Nathan really wants me to see a doctor who specializes in disorders of the muscular system. He went right behind my back and made the appointment for me. That prick" He clenched his teeth in anger and noticed that his mother did the same thing. "Listen" She said. "The only doctor you need to see is a head doctor."

"Ouch!" Peter moaned. "That really hurt. "Face it Peter!" Angela said, her voice sounded sad. "You have serious psychological problems. I promise you everything you're feeling right now is most definitely psychologically based. Depression is a very serious condition you know. It's amazing what it can do to your health.

"I know Depression" Peter said. "As you know. I've been there. Lot's of times as a matter of fact." He looked directly into Angela's eyes "I swear." He said "This is different. I always feel weak and tired when I get depressed, but I've never felt this kind of weakness. I've never had attacks before. And usually I don't lose my powers." Angela continued staring at him, she didn't say a word but she continued to examine him from head to toe with her eyes. "You seriously need to eat." She finally said. Her voice was full of disgust. She continued staring. It was making him increasingly uncomfortable.

"Shut up!" He suddenly snapped. Angela looked shocked.

"I beg your pardon?" She cried. "Shut up?"

"You heard me" Peter said apathetically "Don't you even think about taking your misery out on me!" Angela snapped "You know very well that this is not my fault. I don't think I've been anything but supportive." Peter rolled his eyes in exasperation. Who was she kidding? She had been ANYTHING but supportive. He was beginning to think that she hadn't heard a single word he said. "Listen" Angela said. "If you really feel like taking your misery out on someone, take it out on that girl you keep hanging around with. That Nicole. She's seriously just adding to your problems. I swear the girl is no good."

"I like Niki" Peter said lamely. "You could do so much better" Angela said. Shaking her head. "I really liked that girl Simone you were with. It's such a shame that she died. She was such a good girl. So smart, so educated. I could not say any of the same things about Nicole. She is not smart, nor is she educated and she certainly is not a good girl, in fact she is one of the most depressing human beings I have ever met. I think that you'll feel a whole lot better right away if you stop seeing her. She's bringing you down and you know it."

"I like her" Peter said stubbornly.

"Peter listen to me okay? She's really bad for you" Angela said shaking her head. "Anyway enough about her!" She said. "Now what were we talking about before we got on the subject of HER? Oh yes. You seriously need to eat something"

"I will later!" Peter said hastily. "You can leave if you'd like. Bye!"

"I think not" Angela said. "I know you all too well Peter. I know you're not going to eat anything later. You're probably going to shove all my food, that I slaved over all morning into the very back of your refrigerator and then forget all about it until it goes bad." She folded her arms across her chest and gave him a look of disapproval. "I'm not going anywhere until you eat something" She said. "Am I going to have to force feed you?" He was surprised that she even wanted to force feed him, considering the fact that the last time she tried that, he practically bit her hand off. His throat continued to close up. Even when he wasn't experiencing muscle weakness, his throat always tended to close up when his mother watched him eat. It made him that uncomfortable. It was in fact the big reason why he took such a long time to finish eating. Even when he tried hard to avoid looking at her while he was eating, he could always feel her eyes on him even when he knew very well that she wasn't there, that always happened to him. He shook his head. The thought of being force fed by his sentinel of a mother seemed increasingly unbearable beyond belief. "No" He said instantly. "You aren't going to have to force feed me."

"Fine" Angela said. "But I am going to sit here and watch you eat. I'm not going anywhere." Now Peter knew he was stuck. "You can go ahead and take a bit of everything." Angela reminded him. The wave of nausea once again swept over him.

"Seriously Mom" He cried. "You're torturing me! Stop it!" He covered his face.

"Don't be silly" Angela said.

"You don't understand" Peter moaned. "I can't eat. I just can't. It's just not possible. I'm physically incapable" He really hoped his mother would be understanding the way Nathan and Niki had been, but then again who was he kidding? There was no way in Hell that Angela would even try to be understanding. "Seriously Peter!" She said throwing back her head in exasperation. "You need to get yourself out of this negative state of mind. This 'I can't' attitude, this everything's impossible attitude, This 'I'm physically incapable' attitude" She shook her head. "It has got to stop." She than smiled a tiny bit. "It's all in the book" She said patting down on 'The Atlas Of Depression!' "Everything we've talked about is in this book. If you read it you'll see what I mean. It offers all kinds of advice about getting out of your kind of state of mind. It's a great book for you." It seemed like Angela had read the entire book from start to finish before giving it to him. It made him wonder if his mother had a life of her own. That thought in itself made him feel even more depressed than he was already feeling. His depression suddenly turned to rage. He opened the book and tore the title page right out. It surprised him how much he loved the sound of the paper shredding. It was such a powerful sound. Orange juice to his ears in fact. For a split second he somehow felt powerful again. Even though most of his body was weak, his left hand still felt very strong. And that was all the strength he needed to accomplish that victory. Angela gasped loudly. Paying no attention Peter began tearing out another page, and than another. Before he knew it he was recklessly tearing the book to shreds. Doing so, he actually felt a strange satisfaction, knowing that that damn book was getting destroyed. He was halfway through the book when Angela suddenly grabbed on to his shoulders and began shaking him. "Peter STOP!" She cried. She than yanked the book from his hands. "Are you crazy?" She wanted to know. "Look at what you've gone and done! That was NOT okay!" She cried. She was practically on the verge of tears. "That is a LIBRARY book!" She moaned, hugging it close to her. "It is?" Peter asked. Just like that, all his rage was replaced by guilt. He also for some unexplainable reason felt the muscle weakness finally catch up to his hand. He let it drop limply to his side. "Yes Peter!" She said angrily. "As a matter of fact yes it is"

"I'm sorry Mom!" Peter cried. "I honestly didn't know."

"You honestly didn't realize that this book happens to be a library book?" Angela snapped in disbelief. She than opened up the book cover. "See that?" She asked pointing to what looked like nothing more than a big white sticker. "That happens to be the public library bar code, which means it's most definitely a library book. It's pretty hard to miss that wouldn't you think?"

Peter nodded his head slowly. He was too miserable to speak. He bit down hard on the insides of his cheeks. "And to make matters worse I paid for it with my library card. MINE. So now that means that I'm going to have to be the one to pay for the damage. And I went through all the trouble. It was actually supposed to only be a seven day book. But I had to renew it for you because I realized that you were feeling depressed again and I thought it would help you. And it was already a week overdue" She threw back her head in exasperation "You are just so unappreciative" She cried. Her voice was filled with disgust. This was not news at all to Peter. He had already heard that he was unappreciative that day from Nathan, because he didn't absolutely marvel at the idea of seeing a specialist in muscular disorders. 'Twice in one day.' He moaned to himself. For once it seemed that Nathan and his mother were in the same frame of mind. Though they didn't agree on most things. There was one thing they could both agree on. And that was the fact that Peter was unappreciative. He once again bit down on the insides of his cheeks. It was such an unfair assessment. It wasn't like he had asked for either of the things they went through all the trouble to get for him. They certainly didn't have to go through any of the trouble. "I don't think you're being fair!" Peter said sulkily. "It's not fair of you to show up here uninvited, with all this stuff that I don't want and than expect me to be all appreciative."

"Uninvited?" Angela asked, once again sounding hurt. "I'm family, I shouldn't have to be invited" She once again grabbed on to his shoulders. "Especially not when I know very well that something's wrong. I had one of my prophetic dreams you know, but it was very unspecific. About as unspecific as you can get in fact."

"So you assumed that it meant I'm clinically depressed?"

"You know what Peter?" She asked. "Just go to that doctor's appointment on Friday. I'm can promise you that any doctor can tell you just as well as I can tell you, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with your muscles. It's all in your head. It's all psychosomatic." She sounded, just like how Peter imagined, the book sounded. It was really making him cringe.

"That's not true!" He snapped. "It is NOT just in my head. It's real!"

"Well now you sound just like your brother!" Angela groaned. "How do you even know it's real if you haven't even gotten it tested." Peter said nothing. "That's exactly what I thought!" Angela said. You don't know that it's not just in your head."

"I'll tell you what's not in my head!" Peter said boldly. "The fact that my powers are gone is not in my head. They're most definitely gone!" Angela got up from the couch. "Damnit Mom!" Peter cried. "Where are you going?"

"I'm through having this conversation!" Angela said. "I'm not an idiot you know; I can tell that I'm unappreciated here." Peter was beginning to feel heavy with guilt. "Look" He said. "I'm sorry, please don't leave. I really do appreciate everything."

Angela spun around. "Well you know you sure had a funny way of showing your appreciation!"


End file.
